News coverage from August 2022 about the Center for an Informed Public and CIP-affiliated research and researchers.
- Foreign Policy (Aug. 1): “Russian propaganda is targeting aid workers”
CIP director Kate Starbird, a UW Human Centered Design & Engineering associate professor, was interviewed by Foreign Policy for an article about how online narratives targeting humanitarian aid workers in Ukraine are similar in nature to those used during Syria’s civil war.
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- Clear and Vivid podcast with Alan Alda (Aug. 15): “Why birds don’t lie but we do”
In an interview for Alan Alda’s Clear and Vivid podcast about science communication, CIP faculty member Carl Bergstrom, an evolutionary biologist and UW Department of Biology professor, discussed his research into collective behavior, the spread of misinformation on social media and the need to study the human collective behavior and communications technology as a “crisis discipline.”
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- Tech Policy Press (Aug. 16): “‘Exhausting and dangerous:’ Is election disinformation a priority for platforms?”
Research from CIP director Kate Starbird on the “participatory” nature of the Big Lie were referenced in a Tech Policy Press article by Justin Hendrix on whether social media platforms are prepared to deal with election-related mis- and disinformation ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
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- Politico (Aug. 20): “The latest social media misinformation: Abortion reversal pills”
CIP postdoctoral scholar Rachel E. Moran was interviewed for a Politico story about abortion misinformation: “Mis- and disinformation is really designed to confuse you in that situation and make it more about the ideological arguments and conspiracies in a way to cloud your judgment about how easy or safe it is to access an abortion,” Moran said.
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- The Spokesman Review (Aug. 21): “Experts say elections are secure, even as Republicans make baseless claims to the contrary”
Stephen Prochaska, an iSchool doctoral student and CIP misinformation researcher, was interviewed by The Spokesman Review for a story about trust in state and local elections administration following concerns being raised about the security of elections in Spokane County.
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- Mother Jones (Aug. 22): “The most powerful moms in America are the new face of the Republican Party”
Rachel E. Moran, a CIP postdoctoral scholar, was interviewed by Mother Jones for a story about wellness influencers and mothers’ groups online being pulled into conspiracy theory communities. “You’re at a very uncertain period of your life, in a period of incredible uncertainty that we’ve been under, and paired with that, isolation,” Moran told Mother Jones, noting that it’s understandable why women would “go online where it’s all too easy to find not only misinformation but incredible communities that surround that misinformation.”
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- Slate (Aug. 24): “Fauci is retiring. Will QAnon let him go?”
CIP research scientist Mike Caulfield was interviewed by Slate for an article about the future of conspiracy theories involving National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases chief Anthony Fauci, who is retiring. “He’ll be a fixture for a while,” Caulfield told Slate in an email. “Once someone is at the center of a conspiracy theory, they can’t simply be swapped out. It takes time.”
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- The New York Times (Aug. 25): “Spiders are caught in a global web of misinformation”
CIP co-founder Jevin West, an associate professor at the UW Information School, was interviewed by The New York Times about a study of misinformation about spiders. Although West is not affiliated with the spider study, he “noted the parallels between the spread of sensationalized spider news and the circulation of misinformation in the 2020 American election.”
